Analysts Doubt DOE Price Forecasts
Department of Energy forecasts calling for essentially flat diesel fuel prices throughout 2000 are being questioned by oil market analysts.
DOE expects the cost of imported petroleum to remain above $20 a barrel next year, based on information in a monthly publication from its Energy Information Administration. The department foresees the price averaging $22.38 a barrel, rising as high as $23.75 and dropping as low as $21.
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A projection released this month and reported in some trucking trade publications says the national average price of diesel fuel will reach $1.29 a gallon in the first quarter of 2000, but drop no lower than $1.25 afterward. If that is so, it would mean a yearlong average of $1.27.
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Two weeks ago, crude prices reached an eight-year high, trading at $27.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The corresponding result pushed diesel to a level — $1.304 a gallon on Nov. 29 — not seen since December 1996, when the national average stood at $1.307 ("Diesel Fuel Hits 3-Year High," 12-6, p. 1)
